


Listening to your Broken Soul

by YunaBlaze



Series: The Blind Violinist & The Grumpy Veteran [1]
Category: Deus Ex (Video Games), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, Idiots in Love, M/M, Minor Swearing, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:40:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21949714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YunaBlaze/pseuds/YunaBlaze
Summary: Retired soldier, Duncan MacReady, was not pleased with his current life. Despite the comfort he was living in, the normal civilian life was not for him, but he could do nothing about it. The only thing that was keeping his day bright was the beautiful music his mysterious neighbour was playing...
Relationships: Adam Jensen/Duncan MacReady
Series: The Blind Violinist & The Grumpy Veteran [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655500
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Listening to your Broken Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kameiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kameiko/gifts).



> Merry Christmas Kameiko! I hope you like this treat I have for you!

Many would consider themselves lucky to have survived a war and actually managed to make it back home in one piece, with honour and money to boot. To one Duncan MacReady? That was simply a load of crap. He had managed to crawl his way out of a bloodied battlefield, though he did not consider himself to be lucky. He got medals pinned to his uniform, but he did not seem them as badges of honour. He got enough money to last for the rest of his life and a well-furnished flat to call home. Yet he was anything but please with how his story ended up.

Call him an idiotic fool. Call him a selfish bastard. Call him a blind dickhead. Whatever. It would not change the fact that he had no interest in his current extremely boring life. In fact, Duncan would have preferred having died in a fight than coming home as a retired war veteran. He had spent so long fighting that he could not even remember what being a normal civilian was like. Even in this quiet room, he couldn’t get himself to relax and every noise he heard reminded him of the battlefield, possible enemies sneaking up on him and fighting in the distance.

Why did the military even decide to let him go? Oh, wait. Now he remembered, he was a pain in the arse to others despite being a good soldier. It was not his fault that the others couldn’t keep up and he had to pick up their slack! Still, it did not change the fact that he was honorably discharged and he was stuck in a life that he was wholly uncomfortable with.

MacReady sighed as he rubbed his scarred cheek absentmindedly before he got up from his couch and went to the stack of boxes he had left in a corner. Despite having moved in for over a month, the ex-soldier did not find the energy in him to unpack anything and only took out what he needed when he needed. His entire apartment was the perfect image of a minimalistic style with how barren of life and personality it was.

Suddenly a soft music note drifted into apartment and a harmonious trail of them soon followed.

Well... if there was one thing that he could accept about this boring new life of his was the free violin solo he got to listen to almost every day. The violinist seemed to be his neighbour from downstairs, at least he believed so if his half-deaf ears hadn’t completely lost it and maybe the landlady had made a mention about it somewhere when he had initially moved in. The ex-soldier opened the window a bit more to let the music in before he went back to his current task, which was to cook something for his empty stomach. Listening to the peaceful tune as he cooked, it helped him forget how much he hated this life of his.

Not to mention, it made him curious about this faceless musician of a neighbour...

Duncan quickly shook his head to get rid of that wayward thought. No. He had no interest in meeting new people and settled into his new boring life. Nope. No thank you.

Hmm... Wonder if he could settle into a mercenary life?

***

A few months later...

NOPE! MERCENARY LIFE WAS NO GOOD!

MacReady sighed tiredly as he pushed his shopping cart, eyes barely checking whatever product he was picking up. He thought he could make a good mercenary, but his shiny personality was apparently still too much for others and grated too much on people’s nerves, even when he was already playing nice... He guessed he should be thankful that he somehow managed to get out of the warehouse with his head intact and no blood loss of whatsoever. Was he doomed to live a normal civilian life?

So in deep in his own miserable thoughts he was that he didn’t realize someone was in front of him until he accidentally slammed into them with his cart. The person didn’t fall, though the stranger did wobble slightly before he straightened himself, though what caught the ex-soldier’s eyes first was the white cane he was holding.

‘Oh shite! Sorry!’ MacReady exclaimed as he stared at the person in worry. ‘Are you alright, mate?’

‘Yes, I’m fine,’ the man said with a wave of his hand, gripping the basket and cane in hand tightly as if to make sure he still had everything before he moved his hand up to readjust his glasses. ‘Don’t worry, you’re not the first guy who didn’t see me.’

Duncan frowned at that, not sure if the stranger was being sincere or was just sassing him, because it certainly sounded like sass in his ears! Ugh... but the guy was blind... or half-blind... He just noticed the end tip of the cane was coated red, blind cane with this colour pattern meant that the user simply had low vision. He took a closer look at the man. Short dark brown hair, white glossed blue eyes, a sharp angular face with an equally sharp trimmed beard. His face certainly looked aesthetically pleasing, though his personality was questionable at best. It grated on his nerves.

‘Right... Sorry about that and have a nice day,’ Duncan said curtly as he moved around the stranger. Hopefully, he would never bump into this guy again, because the list of reasons he was hating being in a normal life was growing.

After he returned to his apartment with grocery bags that contained mostly of MREs, MacReady absentmindedly checked the time and found that it was almost time for the violinist’s practice. Perfect timing, he needed some soothing music after that debacle at the grocery store. He opened the windows before he went to put up his groceries.

Then an ear-piercing sound rammed into his apartment, causing him to drop his food in surprise.

‘What the bloody hell?!’ Duncan cursed as he wondered what that noise was, then he soon realized it was a music note.

Brown eyes blinked in shock at the utter change of musical pace. The mysterious violinist had so far never played any music with a high pitch, they always seemed to prefer soft music. Today, the tone was very sharp and almost angry... Hmm... Oddly enough, now that he was listening to it more closely, it almost sounded like it was reflecting on his own current mood, which was... annoyance, from what had happened earlier.

Despite the sharpness of each note, Duncan found himself with his eyes closed and enjoyed the musician’s play, letting the high pitch washed over him and slowly unburdening him of the frustration he had been harbouring all the way home.

As the violin sonata drew to a close, the ex-soldier started clapping his hands loudly as if he was standing in front of the violinist. It might be a complete coincidence that the musician played a tune that matched his mood and helped sooth his frustration away, but he appreciated the sonata they had played. It was most excellent.

The ex-soldier was snapped out of his reverie when he heard sound of glass breaking from below, he hurried to the window to glance down, only to spot his downstairs neighbour closing their window in a hurry. Ah... a shy person, huh? Somehow the thought that the musician was surprised by his applause drew a smile on his face. It was a... cute thought.

From then on, if he wasn’t job hunting on the side, he would spent most of his time at home by the window, waiting for the violinist to play whatever sonata they were up to. Their practice was clockwork, twice a day, one after lunch and one in the evening. Each and every time, Duncan would applause and there would be quite a few items dropped, though his neighbour soon started to accept that they had a faceless listener who adored their music. After a while, MacReady had made a tentative attempt of first contact, through a thermos full of delicious hot chocolate that he lowered to his neighbour’s window with a roped basket.

Okay, Duncan would admit that this was weird and possibly creepy, but to be honest, he preferred this anonymity between them. Not meeting face-to-face meant they each could imagine the other having a more wondrous life and how much of a better person the other was compared to them. Yeah, Duncan rather liked this image of a sophisticated but shy lady he had for his mysterious neighbour. Hopefully, he didn’t blow it up with this... Woman loved sweets, right? Right? Right?! RIGHT! NO LOOKING BACK NOW!

The next morning, when MacReady pulled the basket back up and found a thank you note in it, he felt extremely victorious.

***

Perhaps MacReady should had expected that this anonymity thing would be too much and one of them would say the forbidden words sooner or later...

**_Wanna grab a cup of coffee together?_ **

They were really, really, really innocent little words on a card, though the meaning behind them was rather... big...

**_I want to meet you._ **

Yeah, that sounded more like it...

So here the ex-soldier was, sitting a corner of a café near the apartment building, glancing between the door and his wristwatch almost every minute, anxiously waiting for his mysterious musician to make their appearance. Right, his calling card, one cup of tea with a rose, out in the open for all to see. And their calling card will be their violin case.

The brunet found his feet tapping the floor in nervous tune, a habit that hadn’t occurred since he left the army, seeing there was no reason for him to feel stress. Wait! Why was he even stressed to begin with? This was a simple meeting between... semi-friends? Would-be-friends?

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he sensed someone sitting down next to him, he glanced up and almost groaned out loud. Of all the people in the city, why did it have to be the blind broody-looking guy sitting next to him? Sure, they weren’t sharing a table, but even being this close, he couldn’t stop the sneer on his face. Then his eyes drifted downward to the briefcase he was holding. No wait... That was a violin case... Could he be...?

MacReady stared at the violin case and then back at the blind guy, repeated the action a few times before he wiped his head back up and looked away. NAH!

No way in Hell this guy was his secret date and he was probably here to wait for someone else.

The brunet turned his attention back to the door, anxiously waiting once more. Yes. Any moment from now, a pretty gal carrying a violin case would step in and it would make all the nervous pacing worth a damn.

Five minutes passed the meeting time, more people leaving than coming in.

Ten minutes gone. The blind guy was putting too much in his cup of coffee...

Fifteen minutes in. Why were there suddenly more couples in this café? He suddenly felt like he and blind guy here were segregated by this crowd.

Twenty minutes had vanished. MacReady started plucking his rose.

‘You are ruining it,’ the blind man remarked as he took a sip of his... what was it? His fifth cup of coffee?

‘Piss off,’ Duncan muttered under his breath as he kept pinching off one petal at a time, looking like a jaded lover.

‘I get what you are feeling,’ the stranger murmured after he finished his drink, looking equally dejected as well.

So they both got stood up by their date... Wonderful... Misery certainly loved company, huh?! Both of them sighed in disappointment at the same time as they settled under a gloomy silence.

They both ended up leaving together, neither could deal with the hearts floating around in the café that was packed with lovers. Neither of them wanted to acknowledge the other’s presence as they walked along the same path and entered the same building. It wasn’t until they were waiting for the elevator did the blind man asked, ‘You live here?’

‘Obviously,’ Duncan replied with a frown, he was tempted to retort rudely at that question, though he was too exhausted to deal with this bastard.

‘...Adam.’

‘Excuse me?’ Brown eyes glanced at the other sharply.

‘My name. It’s Adam Jensen, one of your neighbours in this apartment complex,’ said the man curtly.

‘...Duncan MacReady, your please-shut-up-before-I-punch-your-face-in neighbour,’ Duncan introduced himself sarcastically.

‘Charmed...’ said Adam, unnerving the ex-soldier slightly with his foggy blue eyes seemingly locked into his own, the glasses did nothing to lessen the intensity of those unfocused eyes. The eyes only left his alone when the elevator doors opened with a loud ping and they both entered without another word.

The ride up in the elevator was tensed and quiet with each of them marking one corner as their territory. MacReady stole glances at the blind man who stood in a straight posture and focus seemingly locked in front of him. Once again, he couldn’t deny that Adam had a very handsome face despite his questionable personality.

The elevator slowed to a stop before the door opened, Adam was the first to leave. The dark-haired man paused slightly at the elevator doors, turning slightly to bid him a nice day before he continued down the corridor, leaving the ex-soldier dumbfounded in the lift.

MacReady cursed lightly when the elevator started moving once more, disliking how the man could be cold at one time and sincere in the other. Augh! Forget about him, Duncan MacReady!

The ex-soldier more or less kicked his own door down in his annoyance, after he had unlocked it of course, he did not need the damn landlady breathing down his neck for the damage. As he entered his apartment, he could hear the faint violin music playing and was soon drawn towards the window. Did the violinist just got back as well? They were playing such a sad tune. The image of Adam Jensen kept popping up as he listened to the music.

Nope. He would not believe that Adam Jensen was the violinist. No way. He was sure that his imagined pretty lady violinist was playing this as an apology for not coming to meet him. Yeah... That was all there was... No handsome blind guy downstairs...

...Maybe he should try to ask him out for a cup of coffee next time...

Duncan MacReady pushed that peculiar thought into the back of his mind as he rested his temple against the glass of the window and closed his eyes, focusing intently on the music that his violinist neighbour was playing. The music was savoured like an aged wine between listener and musician. A special drink they shared with each other.


End file.
